On the sound system, Lou Reed was deadpanning his way through his Velvet Underground classic, “I’m Waiting for the Man”, but Donatella Versace’s young men were waiting for none. They sped down the catwalk in a flurry of urgency; there was no time for detail. The color palette was essentially black and black, with a secondary group that offered shades of brown. Textural interest showed up as strips of shiny patent on gloves or across the shoulders of a black suede blouson. Patent piping also bisected one leg of a pair of trousers, a graphic touch that was amplified in a black mock turtleneck carved on the diagonal with a slash of scarlet. There was something 80s-ish about such flourishes, equally so for a big, black leather military coat and another one of those diagonal bisections, which looked like a signaling flag. The show notes did mention the military parade ground as a possible venue for such items, but more intriguing was the reference to clerical garb (presumably that meant the black dog collar on a white shirt). The same style appeared with tails in the finale. Rejigger it as a Nehru collar, and it was almost as though Donatella was thinking ahead to what the menfolk might need to wear for the upcoming Rajasthan nuptials of her friend Elizabeth Hurley. To cut a long useless story short, Versace goes weird. Ish. Disappointing…
